Lively Elizabeth! What Happens When You Push

Author: Mara Bergman

Illustrated by Cassia Thomas
Interest Level: Ages 4-7

From the Book Jacket: Lively Elizabeth lives up to her name - in fact, she's a little bit of a handful! She doesn't mean to hurt anyone, but one day at school she finds out that one little push can lead to BIG problems!

Why It's On My Bookshelf: Let me set the scene for you: It's recess. Children are playing joyfully. The recess bell rings. The students run towards their line and all of a sudden the joy is GONE. There are some kids crying, some on the ground holding scraped knees, others arguing and pointing at each other, and then I get to come over and sort it all out. 

ME: "What happened guys?" 
ANGRY STUDENT #1: "SHE PUSHED ME!!"
ANGRY STUDENT #2: "NAH AH! HE PUSHED ME!!!" 
ANGRY STUDENT #3: "I WAS HERE FIRST!"
SAD STUDENT #4: on the ground holding elbow and knee crying
ME: (lord help me)

Now granted this does not happen all of the time because we work really hard on having students line up safely - but these are kids - they are not perfect. My saving grace is always a social skills book. I've found a new one, Lively Elizabeth! What Happens When You Push, to help teach self-control and reinforce being safe in school.

Little Miss Lively Elizabeth is not in the same scenario at recess but she does decide to push another boy in class. Which causes a whole domino effect of kids falling into one another. Great illustrations showing cause and effect. 

She experiences the social consequences of kids being upset with her but is forgiven after making an apology for her behavior. Loved the making amends part. Although I've been reading it this Spring, I plan on re-reading it at the beginning of the school year next Fall. It's such a great addition to my library. I'm hoping it will help decrease my "Lord help me" moments at recess.


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